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Editorial

Political strike

By Nagaland Post | Publish Date: 9/30/2018 12:25:12 PM IST

One change that has swamped India, is the continual bombardment of highly developed media propaganda which is percolating the nation and creating illusions in the minds of millions of the undiscerning. There are however also, millions of Indians who are discerning and who do not readily accept or swallow everything that the government projects as its “far reaching” achievements. One of the “achievements” claimed by the government has been on the issue of “surgical strike” by the Indian army. The government has literally appropriated not only the term “surgical strike” but also the very action itself for obvious but dubious political gain. Towards this objective, a three-day main event ‘Parakram Parv’ between September 28-30, 2018 has been organized at India Gate lawns in Delhi besides similar events at 53 locations in 51 cities across the country. The celebration on the second year of the “surgical strike” carried out by the Indian army across the Line of Control (LoC) took place on the night of September 28 and 29, 2016. The punitive strike was in response to the terrorists attack at the army camp in Uri on September 18, 2016, killing 19 soldiers. Given the kind of hyper-nationalism being drummed up by the BJP, the strike was planned to coincide with the UP assembly elections. The Modi government needed to showcase its muscularity against Pakistan without inviting war and so the die was thus cast for the politically driven surgical strike. A perspective on the military action was best summed up by the then foreign secretary S. Jaishankar when he said: “Target-specific, counter-terrorist operations (CI ops) across the Line of Control which the army had done in the past too, but this is the first time the government has gone public about it.” He said this to the Parliament Committee on Foreign Affairs. The way the Modi government is turning the entire military operations as a lifetime achievement is bizarre. In the 90s, well before the Indian army erected the fence on the LoC in 2004 regular army commandos rather than Special Forces, used to frequently breach the so-called glass ceiling. BJP president Amit Shah on October 7,2016 went overboard in claiming that it was the first time in 68 years that the Indian army crossed the LoC. To this, Congress spokesman Randeep Surjiwala termed Shah’s claim as a “disgraceful statement” and a dishonor to the 70-year long history of bravery and sacrifice by the Indian army jawans. Surjiwala went on to list multiple surgical strikes carried out by the Indian army during the past two decades, particularly post 2000 such on January 21, 2000 (Nadala Enclave, across Neelam river); September 18, 2003 (Baroh Sector, Poonch); June 19, 2008 (Bhattal Sector, Poonch); August 30 to September 1, 2011 (Sharda Sector, across Neelam river Valley in Kel); January 6, 2013 (Sawan Patra Checkpost); July 27 to 28, 2013 (Nazapir Sector); August 6, 2013 (Neelam Valley); January 14, 2014 then September 28 to 29 2016. If there is need to celebrate the bravery and sacrifices of the Indian armed forces, it would have to be the victory against Pakistan in the 1975 war, decimation of Pakistani army in the 1971 war which liberated Bangladesh and the Kargil war in 1999 when Indian forces pushed back infiltration by Pakistan army. But these will not bring political mileage unfortunately.